12/11/2019 

Thank you for the invitation to speak today. It's a pleasure to be here.

I'd like to begin today by acknowledging the Traditional Owners, the Turrbal and Jagera peoples, on whose land we meet, and pay my respect to their Elders, both past and present.

I'd also like to acknowledge the Executive of the Anzac Day Brisbane Parade Committee, especially:

• President Wendy Taylor;
• Vice President John Strachan OAM;
• Chief Parade Marshall Earle Jennings AM RFD ED; and
• All members of the committee and other ex-service organisations (ESOs) here today.

This is my first address to the committee as Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel.

I want to take this opportunity to commend the committee on your longstanding efforts in organising the Brisbane Anzac Day Parade, the only one in an Australian capital city not organised by the RSL.

And I thank you for the invitation to come and talk about my views on the issues and challenges facing ex-servicemen and women, and Labor's policies in this area.

As you know we have a significant Defence presence in Brisbane and South East Queensland, and are home to significant number of current and ex-service personnel.

As the Federal Member for Blair for the past 12 years, I've had a longstanding relationship with RAAF Base Amberley in my electorate, the largest Air Force base in Australia, and have been proud to advocate for the interests of the many Defence personnel and veterans who live in the region.

The Defence and veterans' community is a very important part of the fabric of life in Ipswich, as it is in Brisbane.

As the Opposition spokesman for Veterans' Affairs, I can assure you I've been making a point of getting around and meeting as many veterans and ESOs as possible to see what they are doing and hear what they think is best for them, their families and their communities.

Obviously, the issue of veterans' mental health and suicide rates has been receiving a lot of attention lately - and rightly so.

The high number of veteran suicides is a national shame.

This has led to calls from some for a Royal Commission and we know the Prime Minister is considering this.

As I've said before, ultimately, this is a matter for the Government.

If the Government decided to establish a Royal Commission, Labor would support it and we would urge people to cooperate with it.

However, we know there is a range of views among current and ex-service personnel and ESOs.

After all, this is an issue that has been the subject of many reviews and inquiries in recent times, including the Productivity Commission report on the veteran support system, released in July.

The Government has committed to develop a Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and National Action Plan by the end of the year.

Labor has supported this and I've had discussions with the Minister to provide input.

Labor's view is the Government needs to get on with the job of addressing the many existing reports and inquiries and deliver the Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan as soon as possible.

We also know there are serious problems with Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) and the veteran support system.

In Senate Estimates in October, Labor exposed that the Government has failed to deliver on an election commitment to cut waiting times for claims through the DVA and streamline processes through the new MyService system.

DVA officials revealed that overall waiting times for processing claims have blown out in recent months - and we have seen reports that simply allocating a file was taking up to 75 days!

The Secretary of DVA has admitted the Department has been hit hard by ongoing funding and staffing cuts, which has driven massive outsourcing and casualisation of DVA's workforce - with around 45 per cent staff now non-permanent APS employees and 26 per cent labour hire contractors.

DVA has had more than 16 per cent of secure jobs cut since the LNP came to power federally in 2013, which has seriously eroded its capacity to deliver services.

This is simply unsustainable!

It's frustrating for us that this Government has been in office for six years, and is playing catch-up and only now desperately trying to come up with a plan - in its third term!

Be that as it may, we are willing to work with them in a bipartisan way, and with you - as representatives of the veteran community - to do all we can to address important issues like veterans' health and wellbeing.

This is why Labor took a range of policies in this space to the last election.

For example, we committed 1 off a $100 supermarket purchase.

Further, a number of veterans in regional areas in my electorate have pointed out that they will not benefit as much as people living in major centres where there are more participating businesses.

As one advocate put it recently, the Veteran Card isn't what veterans were told it would be - a bona fide recognition program - given it's not much better than what the general public can get.

Labor genuinely hopes this does not turn out to be the tokenistic policy thought bubble as we feared it would be at the time it was first announced.

Unfortunately, all of these policy and delivery failures just go to show that this is an incompetent and secretive Government that has failed to deliver for veterans, has no plans and no ideas in this area, and simply wants to outsource policy and responsibility to departments and independent agencies.

On a more positive note, the legislation that gave effect to the Veteran Card also delivered the Australian Defence Veterans' Covenant, which provides a formal recognition of the unique nature of military service and a commitment from the nation to look after veterans and their families.

The Veterans' Covenant follows Labor's earlier proposal for a Military Covenant, which was developed in close consultation with the veteran community and modelled on the UK Armed Services Covenant.

While the Covenant is largely symbolic in nature, Labor had hoped that something like the Veteran Card would deliver some practical recognition for veterans.

Make no mistake, symbolic recognition - including through items like lapel pins, as well as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services - is vitally important.

But we want to see this backed up with tangible benefits, such as better veteran support services when it comes to mental health, suicide prevention, homelessness and aged care.

After all, the best way we can honour the fallen is to look after the living.

In closing, thank you again for the invitation to be here.

I look forward to working with you to deliver better recognition and better outcomes for local veterans in Brisbane and Queensland.

Thank you.